Spiderman logo to be on bases, on-deck circles
 

Link to ESPN story

For interleague games being played June 11-13, there will be a Spiderman 2 logo on all the bases and the on deck circles. Some people are likening it to ad space being sold on the boards at NHL rinks, but for some reason this bothers me a lot more. MLB says fans should not expect to be bombarded with ads, but I'm sure this is just the beginning.

This is total crap, MLB should find better ways to make up for their losses. Be more like the NFL, who prohibits ads on playing surfaces.

MLB is slowly making me an enemy.

I'm very disappointed... ahh sad.

well when you have an organization as well managed as the NFL, you dont need to worry about whoring out your playing surface to ads

the MLB is not a well run organization, and ergo... must make money in some way

Baseketball was far ahead of its time

im a little confused... would you care to flesh this out a little bit?

Baseketball ,the Trey Parker and Matt Stone movie

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0131857/plotsummary
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0131857/

It really was ahead of it's time.

So. Fucking. Stupid.

oh fuck... i totally misread that!

yeah i know what baseketball was... i thought he said Basketball... and i was wondering what he meant

A further descecration of a sport I used to love...

I am not thrilled about the images on the bases, but I don't really have a problem with them advertising at the ball field. There are already a ton of adds at every park, why not use the available space? When they start trying to put ads on uniforms then I will have a problem

Yup, I can see it already. Players running the bases with decals on their hats and uniforms, looking to all the world like Nascar racers. Just friggin great. But that may be where this is headed.

Sunday, June 13, has been designated as "Spiderman Day" at Comerica Park. I think I'll go to the beach and fly my kite that day.

Baseball has always had sponsors look at the old time ballparks how every square inch of the wall had ads. It's always been commercial to a degree.

Ads on bases just show how desperate they are for money and how much they need to re work finances.

Next thing you know, the ads are going to be on the umpire's ass. That is just so lame!

Well, it's disheartening that this is going to happen. Baseball is reaching a new low. If MLB could set back and take a look at the way it's run, then they might see the issues, and correct them.

I don't like this at all. Whatever happened to America's pastime? Instead we're renting space to movies.

it just seems so bad, next you'll see "now batting, sponsored by Rice-a-roni Derek Jeter" followed by a advert jingle.

I have no problem with advertising on the walls, or around most of the stadium. Even selling naming rights to the stadium, I can survive with. However, when you start putting ads on the field of play itself, I draw the line. NO sport, not even NASCAR or soccer, actually puts ads on the field/playing surface. Next, you'll see the Pepsi logo mowed into the grass at the All-Star Game.

MLB rethinks dumbass move...

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/sport...ory?id=1796765


Looks like MLB came to it's senses, at least as far as the bases go. I have to agree with everyone else though, baseball sure has fallen a long way.

CFL football does

:(

[edit]

so does hockey, ive seen one or two Verizon ads under the ice... unless there is a Verizon center....

Yup, CFL and NHL.

they backed off...

but... they put it in to attract younger fans - really???

BS

they did it for the money - why is it MLB only reaches out to the kids when money is involved??? shouldn't MLB be footing the bill when it comes to kids???

why then do they put on the world series on in october when they've already gone to bed???

Does anyone smell a minor conspiracy here? Think about it...one marketing genius at Sony proposes the idea to have MLB put this on their bases, knowing what kind of outcry would come from MLB fans. In turn, Spider-Man 2 gets ten times the publicity for their movie because of the controversey it makes. Just think about how much FREE advertising this movie has received because of the uproar MLB fans have made. If they did this on purpose, they are geniuses (Sony Pics).

on a side note - think about why disney dropped the moore flik fahrenheit 9/11 - because disney gets a massive tax break in florida and we all know who the governor is there - still, he'll get it out there because of the contro...

yet another bonehead move by the people running baseball.

I'm glad this heinous decision was scrapped.

That's a good poin, frolichoek. I'm usually the first to point out the conspiracy, but I missed this one. I hope you're wrong, but unfortunately you'e probably not. I'm sure they counted on publicity one way or the other. Ugh. And here all I did was contribute. Double ugh. I apologize.

Well, it is an interesting study to see how the media has become more of a marketing machine and less of a news source. As much as I would like to think that everyone's motives were pure, I am pretty sure that if baseball had just done it, there wouldn't have been this big of an uproar. Sure, some people would have complained, but it would have blown over pretty quick.

By the way, I just came across this on Mark Cuban's web log (www.blogmaverick.com). Say what you will about Cuban, but he knows how marketing works:

Just some top of the heads on topics media and others have been asking me about.

First, could MLB and Sony Pictures have been any more brilliant with their Spiderman promotion? Both absolutely knew when they announced that they were putting a Spiderman 2 logo on the bases that it would create a firestorm of commentary from the media. Every single sports talk station and just about every newspaper sports section would talk and write about it. Over and over and over again. Sony accomplished exactly what it wanted to for the movie. Get everyone talking about it.

MLB accomplished exactly what it wanted. It got paid, according to reports in the paper (who knows how true it is), $3.6mm dollars.

Whether or not the ads actually appeared on the bases was irrelevant. In fact, I never thought they would ever appear on the bases. What was the point? If they put the ads on the bases, they would lose the opportunity to go through all this again. If they pull the ads, citing fan rebellion, they create the opportunity to play this game at least 1 more time.

Brilliant. Congrats again to MLB and Sony. Why didn’t I think of putting the Spiderman ads on the corner of the backboards in the playoffs…

It's hard to top that kind of business success by controversy and hype...but even then, that's sad that they considered putting ads on the bases anyway. Some standards that baseball has right now.